


Home Is Where the Heart Is

by occamysRazor



Category: The Night of the Rabbit (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hurt and comfort, I'm love Jerry Hazelnut, Revive Night of the Rabbit 2k18, The Marquis is Jerry's rabbit dad and no one can take that from me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-14 17:51:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16497389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/occamysRazor/pseuds/occamysRazor
Summary: It's far too late for you to be out and about, Jeremiah Hazelnut.





	Home Is Where the Heart Is

It was one of those nights that Jeremiah Hazelnut would look back on, years in the future, and think, _what in the blazes was I doing?_ This night, though, staying up until far past midnight following up on a few things that the townspeople of Mousewood needed seemed reasonable. After all, he couldn't leave his new friends waiting! The stars twinkled high in the sky, and their distance made him feel even smaller than usual. Was it his diminished size that made them so far away, or were they always like that? He could barely remember. His head was fuzzy in that way that he knew meant he needed sleep, so he pulled on his pack straps and set out to try and make it to the Old Magician's house before he simply passed out in the forest--it wouldn't be the first time it had happened. Nor would it be the last.

  
Leaves crunched underfoot. Somewhere, a cricket played his melancholy tune. It was a nice night, though a bit chilly--he really did wish he had a coat. He made his way back from the swamp to the bridge in front of the wheat fields and eyed the stream of water that passed underneath it. It looked awfully cold. It flowed swiftly between the rocks lining the banks and, sometimes, drops of water even splashed up to graze the bottom of the bridge. At night, it almost seemed like a living, breathing thing that could swallow him up.

  
Still, he had places to be, and a hammock to rest in, and magic to learn tomorrow! He hurried across the bridge-- _don’t look down_ \--and walked the rest of the way to Mousewood without incident, as long as you didn’t count a few slips on the darkened path.

  
When he returned to the Magician’s house, however, there was something… off.

  
The magic door, which had long since been modified to let him in whenever he so wished, was closed, and would not open.

  
“Hello?” He called, trying not to wake the hedgehog brothers. “Magician? Marquis? The door isn’t letting me in and I’m very tired; can one of you let me in?”

  
He waited a beat.

  
“Hello?”

  
No response.

  
Dejected, he sat down beside the door, leaning against the frame. One of them _had_ to unlock it sooner or later, right? They knew he spent the nights there! Was this punishment for staying out so late? He had heard stories at school about older kids whose mothers set strict curfews; maybe this was like that. It had to be; after all, they wouldn’t just lock him out! He was the Marquis’ apprentice!

  
That was… if they still wanted him.

  
He shook his head to clear such thoughts. “Don’t be foolish, Jerry,” he told himself. “They’ll be right out to let you in. All you have to do is wait.”

  
He waited until his eyelids could stay open no longer and everything was peaceful darkness.

 

* * *

 

 

Jerry awoke to warmth all around him, something heavy pressing on his shoulders, and a pair of bright red eyes studying him. He wiggled to a sitting position and looked around.

  
He was in the Magician’s house; that much was obvious. In his hammock. He looked down and the movement caused something to shift from his shoulders: the Marquis’ beautiful coat, which had been laid on him like a blanket. Which meant--

  
“Good morning, Jerry,” a soft but resolute voice said, interrupting his train of thought. He looked back up to the red eyes he had seen as he woke up; the Marquis de Hoto was sitting in a chair beside his hammock, thick book in his lap and teacup in one hand. Without his coat, the rabbit looked almost… normal. As normal as a talking rabbit could, he supposed. He was a lot less heroic looking, that was for sure.

  
“What happened?” the boy asked, sleep still coating his voice. The Treewalker chuckled a bit, but the sound was hollow.

  
“I found you outside,” he explained, “and brought you back in.” He took a sip of his tea, almost like he was stalling for an explanation. “I am… terribly sorry about the trouble regarding the door. Completely my fault. There was... something I had to take care of, and I didn’t want anyone walking in on me. Very precise magic.”

  
“Does it have to do with the things happening to the portals?”

  
“Indeed. But that’s of no consequence ” He set down his teacup and looked Jerry very deliberately in the eyes. “I want you to know that something like this will never happen again. Not if I can help it, anyway.”

  
“Something like this? You mean--”

  
“The door, yes. We can’t have you sleeping on the streets, Jerry. You’ll catch a cold.” The rabbit smiled a bit. “Besides, I wouldn’t be a very good teacher if I locked my apprentice out every time I thought a spell was too complicated to be interrupted. That’s when you should be watching to learn techniques!”

  
The two shared a smile at the thought of such magic.

  
“Are you going to be doing any magic like that again soon?”

  
The Marquis’ ear twitched. His smile had a ghost of apprehension. “I hope not, Jerry Hazelnut.” He drummed his fingers on the cover of the book in his lap--a nervous habit, perhaps? “It’s very dangerous, complicated stuff. There are consequences if done incorrectly.”

  
The two sat in silence for a moment, only the loud rattling of a passing train interrupting the standstill. Jerry’s eyes fell down to the fabric of the coat sitting in his lap, pressing his fingers into it to feel the almost velvet-soft texture. Finally, he spoke.

  
“I thought you two had left me. Or that you didn’t want an apprentice anymore.”

  
The Marquis looked up quickly as if startled. “What on Earth made you think that?”

  
“The door was locked. It’s never locked.”

  
The Marquis’ face stayed blank for a moment, but behind his eyes Jerry could see a faint hint of dancing glimmer, as if he was thinking very, very fast. It was cool, but a little frightening, he thought.

  
“Jeremiah Hazelnut,” the Marquis began, “there is something you must know if you are to continue to be my apprentice.”

  
Well, that didn’t sound concerning at all.

  
“Not just anyone can produce a carrot flame,” the rabbit continued, looking at Jerry with a startling intensity. “It’s not just a series of ingredients. It’s an intent; a feeling. I sensed that in _you_. Not anybody else.”

  
He paused, then said: “There is nobody in all the worlds quite like you, Jerry. I can’t just get another apprentice. I can’t just get another you.” The Marquis smiled softly. “So do not fear. You’ll be stuck with me for a long while yet.”

  
Jerry nodded and clenched his fists into the coat in his lap, and was surprised to see a few wet spots on the fabric. Where had those come from?

  
Laughing a bit, the Marquis rubbed a tear off the boy’s face and booped his nose, making Jerry’s face scrunch up with both surprise and delight. “Now, let us get ready for a new dawn. After all, nothing is impossible on a day like today! Who knows what could happen?”

  
Jerry grinned and nodded. “Who knows?”


End file.
